The LostCousins newsletter is published twice a month on average,
and all LostCousins members are notified by email when a new edition is
available (unless they opt out). To access the previous newsletter (dated April
1, 2010) please click here. Each
newsletter links to the one before, and you can go back to February 2009 when
the newsletter first went online; in due course there will be an online index
to articles.

Whenever possible links are included to the websites mentioned in
the newsletter (they are highlighted in blue or purple and underlined, so you
can't miss them). Note: when you click on a link a new browser window or tab
will open so that you don’t lose your place in the newsletter.

Although the newsletters are hosted at LostCousins, they are not
part of the main website. Click here to
go to the main website and search for your living relatives.

As I was writing this newsletter one
of the two big news stories was the volcanic eruption in Iceland, which resulted in all commercial flights to or from the UK (and
much of north-western Europe) being grounded because of the danger from ashes
and rock particles in the atmosphere. Many people have been stunned that an
event so far away could have such an impact on life in Britain.

LostCousins members won't have been
surprised, however, because in February 2008 I wrote in my newsletter about the
impact of the 1783 eruption in Iceland:

DID CLIMATE CHANGE KILL YOUR
ANCESTORS?

In June 1783 the Laki volcano in Iceland began to erupt, producing in the
months that followed clouds of volcanic gases 80 times greater than in the
Mount St Helens eruption of 1980. The impact of the gases on the climate was
far-reaching - in the eastern United States the winter of 1783-84 was almost 9
degrees (Fahrenheit) colder than average, and icebergs floated down the
Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico.

Half of the horses and cattle,
and three-quarters of the sheep on Iceland died, but the death and destruction
was far more widespread. It has been estimated that 23,000 people died in
England as a result of the eruption - in parts there were twice as many deaths
as in a normal summer - and some historians believe that as many of 5% of the
French population died in a single year.

Perhaps the next time you're
searching parish registers you'll look particularly closely at the burials
register for the summer of 1783….

So far there is no indication that the
effects of the current eruption will be as cataclysmic; nevertheless the NHS
has warned people with asthma and other respiratory diseases to take
precautions, according to this BBC article.

The other big story here in Britain
is, of course, the forthcoming General Election - which polls predict will end
in a stalemate with no one party having a clear majority. I'm old enough to
recall the last time this happened and to remember the devastating impact it
had on the political and economic stability of the UK (see this Guardian
article if you need a reminder of how bad things were in the 1970s).

It's said that those who forget the
lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. In 1974 I made the mistake of not
voting - I certainly won't make the same mistake this time!

At least, I think that's what is
happening. On March 3 I submitted a Freedom of Information request in order to
discover the true facts and figures underlying the 32% increase in the price of
copy birth, marriage, and death certificates which had been announced 2 days
previously. Under the Act this information should have been supplied within 20
working days, ie by April 1.

You may recall that in my last
newsletter I mentioned that the deadline had passed, which meant that the GRO
had breached the guideline
set down by the Information Commissioner. By April 7 I was still waiting, and
so I sent a reminder - which was ignored. Eventually, on April 15 I telephoned
them - only to be told that the response had been drafted for some time, but
that the approval process was taking longer than anticipated.

Now, I may be doing them a disservice,
but it certainly seems as if the GRO want to ensure that the release of this
information won't embarrass their political masters. So much for Freedom of
Information!

Over the past 2 weeks I've been
writing to members who haven't yet made use of LostCousins to search for their
living relatives. You might think "that's their decision, surely" but
on the other hand, if members don't enter any data, not only can I not find
their 'lost cousins', their cousins can't find them.

One of things that became clear from
the correspondence that ensued is that many members aren't aware that there are
now SIX censuses that LostCousins supports, covering not just Britain, but also
the USA, Canada, and Ireland - they are listed on the Census Links page.

Of those censuses four are available
FREE online, which vastly extends their reach - indeed, it's because they are
available free that I chose those particular census years.

Why is there typically only one census
year for each country? Because automatic matching can only be 100% accurate if
everyone takes the information from the SAME source (I couldn't reliably match
your entries from one year with your cousin's entries from another).

How accurate is LostCousins matching
system? So far it hasn't made a single error in the 6 years since the site began!
That's doesn't mean there haven't been any errors at all - occasionally a
member will identify the wrong person on the census - but the overall chance of
an incorrect match is just 1 in 1000.

Isn't it frustrating when you come
across an old family photograph, but can't be certain when it was taken - or
even which generation of the family are shown? Who
Do You Think You Are?magazine recently named
the top websites for dating photographs, and I'm sure they won't mind me
passing their tips on to you:

The new edition of the National Burial
Index, compiled by the Federation of Family History Societies from information
collected by member societies has over 18 million records covering most
counties in England & Wales. If you already own the 2nd edition you can
upgrade for a mere £15; otherwise the cost is £30. For more
details of the coverage, or to obtain an order form click here.

Most of the NBI entries (and millions
of other burial records) are online at findmypast.

As regular readers will know, you can search
indexes of births, marriages and deaths for Ireland free of charge at the FamilySearch
pilot site. The indexes cover the whole of Ireland until 1921, then the
Republic of Ireland from 1922 onwards (they extend to 1958).

So far as I can ascertain, the ONLY
way to search the BMD indexes for Northern Ireland for the period from 1922
onwards is to visit the General Register Office for Northern Ireland in
Belfast.

When I emailed the GRONI to find out
whether they had any plans to make the indexes available online I discovered
that there is legislation in hand that will make the registers available to the
public on a similar basis to the Scottish registers, ie
births over 100 years old, marriages over 75 years old, and deaths over 50
years old. However, there seems to be no specific provision in the bill for
wider access to the indexes, and I am making further enquires.

As you will know from previous
articles, access under the Freedom of Information Act to the register for
England & Wales costs £42 per household. By contrast, the General Register Office for Scotland,
which holds the section of the register relating to Scotland is charging
only £13, though this is per individual, not per household.

In Northern Ireland the relevant
section of the register is held by the Public Records Office for Northern
Ireland, which does not currently appear to charge for access - although I'm
sure that this will change in the near future. Chris Paton, the well-known writer on Scottish genealogy (and,
like so many experts, a LostCousins member), obtained information relating to
his grandfather from PRONI recently. For full details see the article
in his Scottish Genealogy News and Events blog.

The very first site to offer online access
to the UK Electoral Roll was 192.com, and over the past decade I've often taken
advantage of their free search to verify information. Or at least, I used to…..

What I discovered recently is that sometimes
you'll be told there are no results even when there are, and when I
investigated further I found that it made a difference which web browser I
used!

Another site that offers access to the
Electoral Roll is Tracesmart, and whilst they don't seem to offer any
form of free search, the minimum amount you have to spend to see paid results
is much lower (£3.49 rather than £34.95). Has anyone found a better site?

Note: if you've never searched the Electoral Roll before you need
to be aware that since 2003 voters have been able to opt out of the online
version - and about half the population has done so (me included!).

Visiting
archives? Take the right
identification

When Nancy came over to England from
Canada she not only planned to visit the 'lost cousin' she had found through my
site, she also wanted to visit the London Metropolitan Archives to examine some
original documents. Imagine her surprise to be told that her passport wasn't
sufficient identification, because it didn't show her address.

I had a similar problem the last time
I visited the Essex Records Office. Arriving early for a lecture I thought I'd
make use of the time to look up the 1910 'Doomsday' records - but not having
had the foresight to bring a utility bill with me I was unable to prove my
address. Ironically on my previous visit to the Records Office I had been the
guest speaker - but that counted for nothing.

In general, if there's a chance that
you will want to look at original documents, make sure you can not only prove who you are but where you live. This page on
the National Archives website has a very useful guide to what they consider
acceptable.

WDYTYA? US series to air in the UK

Whilst we've had 5 years to enjoy Who Do You Think You are?in Britain, it was only this spring that a US series began
on NBC. It's now been revealed that 4 of the episodes will be shown on BBC One,
starting on April 25 (or perhaps on a later date - there is no mention of it in my copy of the Radio Times). Ancestry
sponsors the series in the US - it will be interesting to see whether this aspect
of the programme is airbrushed out when it is shown on public television in the
UK.

Over the next week there are two other
TV series that you might find interesting (I'll certainly be recording them so
that I can view them at my leisure). The
Beauty of Maps is a 4-part series that will be showing at 8.30pm on BBC4
from Monday to Thursday; following on at 9pm on Monday is the first part of a
Channel 4 series called Blitz Street
in which a row of terraced houses specially built for the series is torn apart
by a series of explosions that recreate the trauma of the Blitz.

One of the more esoteric databases in
the library of the Society of Genealogists is an Index of Great Western Railway
Shareholders from 1835-1932. Mentioned in the index are not just shareholders,
but also executors and beneficiaries - in total there are about 440,000 names.

Whilst none of my relatives were rich
enough to own shares, I did find a name I knew well. Long before I began to
research my own tree I researched the family of William Aldam
and his wife Mary Wright: she was the daughter of a parson, he was an MP with
interests in canals and railways. My interest began when I acquired hundreds of
letters addressed to Mary, some written before and some after her marriage - it
is a fascinating collection spanning 30 years that gives a wonderful insight into
the private life of a Victorian lady, and one day I may share some of the
letters with you.

I've come across some strange entries
in parish registers before, but this was totally unexpected:

For Epileptic Fits

Get some Missletoe leaves. Bake them in an oven till
they will Powder, take as much of the Powder as will lay
upon a sixpence in the morning fasting, in a Wine Glass of Wine, or Beer.
Continue the same.

I have known the above to cure epilepsy in one Dose
only. Try it.

Geo. Pawson 1847, Little Tey

George Pawson
was Rector of the parish church of Little Tey, in
Essex, from 1806-54. Many of the Essex parish registers are online, and
whilst they aren't indexed, the quality of the scans is so good that it is a
joy to browse through them!

From time to time I get emails from
members who have trouble reading my newsletters - typically they ask me to
increase the font size, or reduce the line length.

The good news is that if you have a
modern browser both of these are under YOUR control. To change the text size hold
down the Ctrl key and click + or - and to change the line length simply change
the size of the browser window.

Whether I'm visiting records offices,
attending a family history show, or visiting one of my aged relatives, I always
have my netbook with me. A netbook is a lightweight laptop
computer with a smallish screen but a much longer battery life than usual, and
until recently I used an Asus PC-901, an attractive looking computer, but with
two fatal flaws - the keyboard and the storage capacity.

For some time I've been looking at the
Samsung range, and when they launched the N210
in January I was one of the first to buy it - a decision I've never regretted.
Samsung claim up to 12 hours battery life (depending on the settings), and since
I've never yet managed to run the battery down I have no reason to doubt their
claims. The keyboard is an absolute dream!

The best price I've found is at Amazon,
where you can also read user reviews. It's available in black or white - I chose white, and am very happy with my choice.

When I was at school in the early 60s
one of my friends introduced me to a scurrilous magazine called Private Eye and edited by a young chap
called Richard Ingrams. Nearly half a century on, Ingrams is older and perhaps wiser, but still a magazine
editor - for The Oldie.

If you like my style of writing then
you'll probably enjoy reading The Oldie as much as I do - it's
crammed full of writers who you probably thought were dead, though they do
allow one or two young whippersnappers to contribute, possibly to comply with
the Age Discrimination legislation. My eventual aim is to persuade them that
they should have a regular column on family history....

I wrote about Google Street View
shortly after it was launched, but at that time the coverage was very limited.
Now most of Britain's streets are covered by photographs, so the chances of
finding a picture of the house where your ancestor used to live is pretty good
(assuming that it is still standing). In Google Maps simply drag the
little yellow man onto the map - the streets which have been photographed will
be outlined in blue.

Though almost all of London has been
photographed, it's ironic that one street that you can't view is Downing Street,
home of the Prime Minister. Mind you, we'll probably see more than enough
pictures of the world's best-known front door over the next 3 weeks!

That's all for now - I hope you've
found some of the articles relevant to you and your family tree.

If you want to show your appreciation
then the best way of doing this would be to add an extra couple of households
to your My Ancestors page (it only takes 1 or 2 minutes per household). Much as
I enjoy receiving complimentary emails, the true measure of my success is the
number of 'lost cousins' who make contact, and it's the data that you provide
that allows me to match you with your living relatives.